September 28, 2006

Whenever I go to a networking event and see people without nametags or
with nametags that only have their first names, I see all these missed
opportunities to help memory and enrich conversations.

Nametags are essential at networking events. Hardly anyone can be
expected to remember everyone’s names after such brief introductions.
Nametags help other people discreetly remember your name without
embarrassing them by asking you again.

Here are some tips I’ve picked up from books and from experience:

Wear your nametag high and right.

Always wear your nametag high on your right shoulder. This is where
the eye is naturally drawn to when you shake hands with someone. Make
it easy for people to read your nametag when they shake hands with
you.

Give your first and last name.

Make sure there’s enough space on your nametag for your first and last
name. This makes it easier for people to remember you when they review
all the business cards they’ve received and the notes they’ve taken.

Tag yourself.

And why stop at names? You want people to remember what you do, too. I
find that “Sacha Chua, Tech Evangelist” starts more conversations and
is remembered better than just “Sacha Chua”. Make it easy for people
to find out and remember what you’re interested in by adding a tag line
or some keywords to your nametag. Use a second nametag if necessary.
You can repeat some of these keywords on your business card or e-mail
signature to reinforce people’s memories.

Bring your own nametag.

For serious networking, always bring a nametag with your first and
last name and a tag line. Many events don’t provide printed nametags,
and your preparation will set you apart.

Do you have any other tips for nametag success? Please e-mail me at[email protected], and I’ll add it to this entry!

I may end up writing a presentation mode if there isn’t one yet. I’ve
seen one before, but I don’t know if it accepts arbitrary Lisp
expressions. Maybe I can mess around with eev, too..

Comment from pll:

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s just SOOOOOO cool, and hysterical. I’ve got
to steal^H^H^H^H^Hborrow this hack. I’ve been toying with the idea
for a while of doing a “Life with Emacs” talk for my LUG. What a
perfect opening :)

One of the things I want in a contact management system is a quick way
to find out who I haven’t pinged in a while. The following code
filters currently-displayed contacts to show who I might want to get
back in touch with. Call it from a *BBDB* window and specify the date
(could be 2006.01.01 for annual, -7 for the last seven days, etc.).
This works incredibly well with the following hacks:

The following code should not be run until you’ve backed up your Big
Brother Database and sacrificed a chicken. It goes through the list of
people in your exported LinkedIn CSV, creates BBDB records if
necessary, adds a linkedin mail alias, and notices new e-mail
addresses and job titles. Call sacha/linkedin-import from the CSV.
Needs csv.el
andlookout.el,
which you should load before running this code.